A Foreign Land
by RottenSeahorse
Summary: Ichigo moves to America, just on the west coast, for an Art College he has applied to attend. Who will he meet there, and what crazy adventures will await him? Yaoi fic.
1. The New Kid

Moving here was not on Ichigo's agenda, but it needed to be done. He hated the idea of leaving his more familiar landmarks behind to travel around the entire world to some desolate wasteland referred to as the _United States._ He dabbled in the English language, so he wasn't totally lost in the landmark he would soon call his home, but the new country made his nerves rack in his body and send spasms of anxiety throughout his system.

Why was here? Oh right, because the Art College he found to be perfect was nowhere else than this small (well, small compared to Japan's cities) city called _Los Angeles. _He had gotten off of the plane at about 5:30 p.m. U.S time. The air was thick and damp, the smell of sea water and gasoline warping from the streets. Everything seemed cloudy and murky, with a slight haze of sun glaring through the clouds.

The place was loud, which wasn't a total bother to the strawberry, but what bothered him the most were the stares. Apparently seeing a strawberry blonde 20 year old in a V-neck t-shirt and worn out jeans was a circus treat to these Americans. Call him snobby, but this place seemed more unappealing then he had imagined it would be.

He had found a nice apartment on the internet when searching for places to stay around the area of his college. It was small, and wasn't in the best shape, but he sighed and concluded that it would do for the time being. He would need a job, sure, one that paid good money, and a job that didn't make him want to slam his head into a wall.

The apartment was in a quiet part of L.A (as the locals called it), and was nestled cutely in front of a small park. The strawberry stepped out of the cab, tossing the driver a couple tens and grabbing his luggage. He made it to the sidewalk, careful as to not scuff up his precious luggage, and stared up at the tall buildings.

He made his way along the pavement, the hot murky day beading down on his head and making small, glistening beads of sweat dripping along his temple. His eyes cast glances to the other college aged men out in the parking lot. A couple of the men, dressed in black shirts with some strange skull and vines trailing along it, baggy dark denim jeans, and caps upon their heads, cast uneven glances toward Ichigo.

Their eyes were black and swimmy, and one of the men was handing the others of his group a rolled up paper.

So these were his neighbors…

Ichigo made his way up the metal rickety stairs to his room, fiddling for the apartment keys in his pocket. After having trouble finding it, he gripped them tightly, turned them in the lock, and made his way inside.

The apartment was small and barren, the skeleton glaring defiantly out at the foreign man. It was a boring shade of beige, and the floors were a scuffy hardwood. The cheap kind, not even decent enough to be called hardwood. Ichigo grimaced, pushing his belongings inside of the room and taking out his cellphone.

He flipped it open, scrolling down to his favorite ecstatic raven-haired friend, Rukia. Her contact picture was a bunny, forced upon by the bunny-lover herself to set as her profile picture, and clicked **call. **

After a few rings, the young lady picked up with a cheery, "_ICHI!" _

"Fucking sucks." The strawberry stated blandly, pushing his luggage on its side and seating upon it as he poured out his annoyance to his friend.

"_Oh Christ, what happened when you got there?"_ She asked nervously over the phone. Ichigo huffed loudly, running his fingers through his messy head of strawberry blonde hair.

"First of all, the town is like Japan's heroin-addicted brother! Second of all, my neighbors-to-be are Drug dealers by the most part, and my fucking apartment has no right to call itself just that!" He complained over the phone, actually letting his feet flail and kick and stomp against the cheap hardwood floor like he was a freakish overgrown child.

Rukia laughed on the other line as he kept up his fit, and replied with a subtle, "_Well, Ichi, it'll get better I promise. Just bear with it, it'll get better_." Ichigo rubbed his forehead, and was stopped with what he was planning to say when a knock sounded from his door. "I gotta go." He stated, clicking off of the dial on his phone and stuffing it back into his pocket.

He sighed, standing up and unlocking his apartment door, opening it up about halfway. "Hello?" He mumbled. The man before him was about his height, with bright blonde hair and an almost eerily uneasy smile which only showed his front teeth. He wore a top hat, with dress shoes hidden under slacks and a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

The first thought that entered Ichigo's head was, _Why the hell is this man in this kind of neighborhood (or town to narrow it down)? He seemed too classy to be here. _

The man tipped his hat. _How cliché _Ichigo thought, grimacing softly at how the man tried ever so hard to be kind enough. The man lifted his head and nodded. "I see you're new too." He stated, looking into the man's empty apartment with a half glance. Ichigo half-heartedly chuckled, rolling his shoulder back. "Yea, just moved in." He stated, trying ever so hard to speak correct English.

The other man's eyes sparkled with amusement at the other man's accent and nodded. "Oh, a foreign student coming to take an art degree at the nearby college. Have to say I am the exact same."

Ichigo's head perked up, his eyes dilating at the older man's calm tone about the situation. "Really?" He asked after a moment.

The other man nodded, "The name's Shinji." He said, giving a curt nod to the younger man. Ichigo nodded back, "The name's Ichigo."

Shinji cast a glance behind him to the streets below. "Hey, how about you and I and a couple of my college buddies go and grab a bite? You know, I could show you around the town you're gonna be calling home?"

Ichigo scratched his newly shaved chin and cocked an eyebrow. "Nothing better to do, although this fucking _shitty _apartment needs a renovation." He grumbled, casting a hateful glance at his new (yet somewhat old) shack. Shinji gave a hearty laugh and waved to the road. "Come along?"

"Yea, sure, just let me get my wallet." Ichigo stated, grabbing his wallet from inside his luggage. He walked out onto the railing, closing and locking the door, and followed this friendly stranger down to the small crowd of men that were nestled by a couple of fancy cars.

"Do you live here too?" Ichigo asked, trying to spark a conversation. Shinji bit his lip, his eyes trailing to the sky as they made their way down those goddamn shitty stairs. "Yea, I live on the very last apartment on the bottom floor next to the park. I'm never there, I'm usually spending the night over at a friend's house or something." He stated, pulling his car keys from his dress pants and clicking the unlock button.

The Porsche on the far end of the lot blinked to life, sending off a sweet and harmonic beep along with the flashing lights. Ichigo's jaw dropped to his chest, and he blinked a couple times. "That's yours?"

Shinji smirked, his eyes gazing at his prized possession. "Yup. She's my pride and joy. The damned thing was worth more than my apartment." He climbed into the driver's seat and motioned to the passenger's side. "Hop in."

Ichigo nervously clenched his jaws and slid inside the nice and expensive interior. It took him a moment after gazing at the car before he could speak, "Um…if you own this kind of car…and wear the kind of clothes that you do…why do you live in an apartment like that?" He asked.

The blonde smiled even wider, his eyes sparkling with more amusement. "I don't use the apartment all that much, it's the car I use the most."

As Shinji finished his simple reply, another man strode up beside the car, ducking down into the window of the car. The first thing Ichigo noticed about this individual was the wondrous bald scalp. He wore dark sunglasses, with a white tank top and semi-skinny jeans. He had a chain belt that sloped down at the side hip and a large necklace with a black man in running position with a bloody hatchet on the end.

A cigarette dangled from his lips and he cocked an eyebrow at the strawberry in the passenger seat. "Who's the kid?" He stated blandly. Ichigo's eyebrow raised at the question. "It's Ichigo." The kid stated straight-forward, and the bald man pulled his sunglasses to the brim on his nose, checking out the younger man.

"Yer scrawny." He stated, pushing his sunglasses back to his eyes, blocking his gaze. Ichigo scrunched up his nose to the distasteful sentence and ignored the man as he chatted to Shinji.

Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't going to intently listen…

"Why's that scrawny fuck sittin' in my seat?"

"He's new to the apartments and I decided to show him around, Ikkaku-chan."

"Well tell him to get his own fuckin' ride there…"

"**Please, just be courteous**!"

"I see no intent on doin' so." Ikkaku snorted.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.

"Look, Ikakku-chan, just be kind for the time being. We're gonna have lunch at this diner, come with us! I'm taking the others too!"

He heard the bald man scoff and Ichigo flinched.

"Oh, so now you're going on a **date **with this kid?" His voice raised in annoyance and Shinji's own panicked voice flowed over his. "Calm down! It's not a date! Just follow us to the diner!"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, wondering what was going on here. His eyes glanced at the two bickering to each other in the car, but let the scene pass over him when the skin-head strutted to his own car.

"I'm sorry about that…he's very hot-headed."

"You don't say…" The strawberry replied, smirking and giving off a hearty laugh to the new man he could somehow call his friend… 


	2. Dining Out

The diner was cutely placed outside the small area of the "run-down" part of L.A. To the strawberry, he thought all of L.A was run-down, but he was sadly mistaken. The car ride to the diner was filled with subtle conversation about the place where Ichigo and Shinji grew up. Shinji turned out to be 3 years older than Ichigo, who was 20 years of age and a freshman of this college.

"I must warn you, though," The blonde began as they pulled up into the parking lot of the small diner. The fluorescent light glowed against the graying sky above their heads. "my friends aren't the nicest bunch in the world, but they'll get use to you. You just gotta take the teasing and mocking for the first few weeks or so until they start to like you."

Ichigo smiled grimly at the fact as he followed his new found friend into the diner. Apparently, most of Shinji's friends were already seated at a large semi-circular booth. Of course, the skin-head from earlier hadn't made it yet, which made Ichigo sigh with relief at the clarification. Although, he may never know, the men before him could be worse than Ikkaku.

He awkwardly took a seat at the edge next to Shinji on the booth, catching every eye of the men sitting at the booth. There were a total of four men, excluding him and Shinji, sitting at the large booth. One man, who seemed to be about Shinji's age, or maybe older, was blonde just like Shinji. His hair was short, with a long portion of his hair covering a part of his face and one eye.

He looked timid, which fit his physique. His eyes were calm and soft, and his smile was shy and kind. Ichigo took a liking to him already. The man sitting next to him on the edge was a man with maroon hair. It was long, and had to be kept in a spiky pony tail. Tattoos covered his body, forming interesting eyebrows with the shapes. His eyes were stern and almost cold, but the smile on his face only foreboded the teasing that would take place in the future.

The man sitting next to Shinji was an eerie man. He has older than everyone else, almost in his 30's it seemed, with dark brown hair that was rubbed back against his head and slicked down smoothly to the back of his neck, except for a strand that flicked in front of the man's gaze. He was looking at a menu, not meeting eyed with the strawberry.

But it wasn't him that caught his eye the most. The man seated to his left was what made his eyes lock with his for a couple of agonizing moments.

The man was bulkier, with a very nice physique in his clothes. His hair was a sky blue, which sat upon his head wildly, going in all places. His eyes were bright blue, and his smile was slinked like a smirk. Something about the man made Ichigo's heart race and his breath become choppy, and he had to muscle up a lot of will power to tear the man's gaze from his.

The tattooed man was the first to say something, "So, kid, what's yer name?" He asked, his sly smile slowly increasing as he asked the question. Ichigo shyly glanced at the table, twirling a cheap paper napkin between his fingers.

"Ichigo." He mumbled, gazing out at all of the people seated there. The man with the brown haired showed no interest to the new addition, but silently flipped pages of the menu and humming to himself.

"Ichigo…so…yer name's Strawberry?" The tattooed man smirked, his eyes gazing down at the smaller man. "Pretty damn funny." He added. Ichigo clenched his jaw, his hands clenching and unclenching underneath the table. "Don't listen to him, Ichigo. He's just a big fat _bully._" Shinji retorted back at the larger man.

"Renji's just scared to get his words thrown back in his face." Mumbled the brown haired man as he set the menu down and crossed his arms stiffly across his chest, leaning back against the booth. Renji narrowed his eyes at the older man, his fist slamming down on the table. "Shut the fuck up, shit."

The man rolled his eyes, "Very educated name-calling, kid." Shinji's facial expressions became more uncomfortable with each second that slowly rolled past by. "Please don't do this now." He whined.

As if on cue, the door to the diner opened, and Skin-Head the deuche bag himself waltzed in, clipping his sunglasses to his tank top. Renji whooped toward the man, his smile resuming its usual placement on his face. "Thought you wouldn't come!"

Ikkaku chuckled, stopping to where Ichigo was seated on the edge. "Hey, kid, what the fuck you doin' in my seat?" The bald man growled, casting his cold gaze onto the younger kid. Ichigo felt anger, instead of fear like Ikkaku had wanted, bubble up in his gut and he stiffly stood, shoving into the man's shoulder.

The man stumbled back in sarcastic shock and furrowed his eyebrows, "Watch it, fucker." Ichigo ignored the statement as Ikkaku took his seat next to Shinji. He sadly took a seat next to Renji, noticing the man's gaze locked on his head. "So…you from Japan too?" The tattooed man asked.

The other blonde smiled sweetly and stated, "Oh, we're all from there too!" Renji laughed and smacked the man against the back, "Yea, me and Kira lived in the same neighborhood. We're roommates as well."

Ichigo nodded, fiddling with the plastic menu in front of him. Ikkaku shot the strawberry a straightforward glare and stated, "So…strawberry, you got a roommate?" Ichigo shook his head, not meeting eye contact with the older man.

He heard the brown haired man in the middle of the booth chuckled and look up at the strawberry blonde male. "Living all alone? Yer a loner?" He asked. Ichigo shrugged, flipping through the pages of the menu.

"Yer just like Grimmjow. Hates anyone in his space." He stated. Ichigo looked over to the blue haired male to his side, his eyes fixating on the man's perfectly constructed face. So that's what his name was…Grimmjow…how…seemingly perfect.

He didn't know how, but the name suited the blue-haired Sexta. Grimmjow ran his fingers through his hair, eyeing the brown haired man. "Do ya blame me, Aizen? My last roommate told you himself he hated living in the same room with me." Aizen sighed solemnly, eyeing Grimmjow down with his gaze.

"**Your last boyfriend **was lucky to get away. Ulquiorra couldn't take your rebel-like attitude." Aizen stated, defending the man Ichigo didn't know. But the strawberry was partially shocked. So the man was gay…nothing against that at all! He just never assumed he was. He never got a vibe.

Shinji let out a chuckle and stated, "Alright, no need to get into an argument! Aizen you remember how hot-headed Grimmjow is! He's worse than Renji!" Aizen glared down at the blonde man and scoffed. "He should know I've had practice in fighting on the streets. I'm not all 100% sophisticated gentleman."

Grimmjow laughed, as did Renji. Kira and Shinji only awkwardly bowed their heads, and Ikkaku mumbled a curse word under his breath.

An awkward silence rippled through the group, which only ceased when a waitress walked up and asked sweetly, "Hello, how may I help you?"

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"So when did ya move here?" Grimmjow mumbled as they all left the diner. Ichigo looked up at the taller male and bit his lip. "Well…I practically just came in an hour ago. Shinji was the first guy to come to the house and greet me."

Grimmjow laughed and cast a glance toward the blonde as he walked alongside Ikkaku, "Yea, that kid sure is friendly. It bugs Ikkaku, though. The man thinks Shinji might as well be cheating on him."

"Eh?" Ichigo asked, his face paling, "He's gay too?" Grimmjow shot him a glare and stated, "Well, yea. Me, Shinji, and Ikkaku are gay. The rest like women." Ichigo's mind fumbled back to Kira, but he shrugged the thought away and walked to Shinji's fancy Porsche.

As he was about to hop inside the passenger's seat, Ikkaku pulled him back, almost making him stumble to the ground. "No thanks, I'm driving with him now." He stated coldly, climbing into the seat and waiting for Shinji to come over around. The blonde cast a worried gaze on Ichigo and smiled, "Sorry, it's only fair. Catch a ride with someone else!"

Ichigo looked around at the others. Renji and Kira were getting into a dark blue truck, and Aizen was going over to a 350Z. That left Grimmjow, but the strawberry's gut clenched to the thought.

The Sexta eyed Ichigo up and down and smirked, "You afraid of me or something?"

"No…wh-why would you think that?"

"You're face grimaced when you looked at me." His voice had no hint of hurt in it, which halfway surprised Ichigo.

"Oh…didn't mean it."

"It's fine, it's fine." Grimmjow stated, almost laughing. The Porsche drove off down the road, as did the truck right behind. Aizen was busy lighting a cigarette in the car. Other than that, they were the only two people still around.

Grimmjow nodded a moment, biting his lip. "Get in the damn car."


	3. Thinking

**Ewww short chapter is short…well anyway, enjoy.**

Ichigo made it home at about 6:30 p.m. He was exhausted, and practically slid out of the passenger side of Grimmjow's Mustang. The strawberry realized he needed a car, and fast, if he wanted to get around L.A without needing a cab or smooching off a ride from Shinji. It had started to cool down outside, and a soft wind was going by through the buildings.

The parking lot was barren, so no noise reverberated off of the walls. "Oh, Shinji was right, you do live near him." He let himself chuckle, the noise seeming to boom out into the silent parking lot, "Isn't such a shitty place?"

Ichigo nodded to the Blue haired Sexta sitting in the Mustang, "Yea. It's a cave." Grimmjow gazed up at the second story apartments and back at his watch. "Well, it's just my luck that I go to the same College you do."

"Oh…you're into art as well?" Ichigo asked, a smile spreading across his face. Grimmjow snorted, turning on the radio in his car as he started the engine, "I teach one of the classes, is all."

Ichigo watched the Mustang back out of the parking lot, to the street, and speed away in the dimming afternoon light. The strawberry sighed, looking over at the Porsche that was parked at the edge of the building. He suddenly groaned in annoyance at the room awaiting him inside of the apartment. The apartment was barren, not even a fucking bed to sleep in.

He rubbed his damp forehead, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking along the sidewalk to the staircase leading to his room. He opened the door to his apartment and breathed in the musky scent of dust.

He coughed into his fist, waving his fist throughout the air like a lunatic, swiping the floating dust particles from his path. "Goddamn." He mumbled in between coughs as he made his way to his luggage. He pulled out a large bag from one of the larger bags and set the package on the ground in the single bedroom.

He plugged in the vent and pushed the nozzle of the air pump into the opening of the thick plastic material. He turned it up to high, and sat back with a soda from his ice chest as he watched the inflatable bed started to rise from the floor.

His mind was occupied with images of the diner and everyone there. Renji was probably a bully in high school who had many friends, but picked on anyone smaller than him as best he could. Kira seemed to be the sensitive type, just by his looks. He had the first impression that he probably was a Fine Arts kid back in high school. How Renji and he got to becoming friends was totally out of reach to Ichigo, but he shrugged off the thought.

Aizen seemed like the mature man all throughout high school. He probably was a coworker with Grimmjow at the college, for all he knew. Shinji was an honestly kind person at heart, who fell into the hands of a mean man at heart. He bit his lip, wondering how the blonde put up with the hot-headed man all the time. After a few moments, the bed was fully made and nice enough to lay on, and he unplugged the air pump and closed the opening with a plastic covering. He got blankets from his luggage and laid them out over the mattress.

He was always impatient about some things, and his body itched for the moving guys to finally get here so he could have a decent bed to rest in. He plopped down on the comfortable mattress and gazed at the ceiling. He finished his soda solemnly, his body fidgeting where he lay.

He sat up, moving to the suitcase and grabbing his PJ's from beneath the other clothes. He snatched a tank top and loose PJ pants with smiley faces on them, changing into them almost frantically and sliding back into the covers.

He thought about Grimmjow before he dozed off. He never knew before about this, but when he was staring at him he really noticed how

(_Hot_)

nice his physique was. He had nice, broad shoulders, a toned stomach and chest, he could guess, and a smile that transfixed Ichigo the moment he saw him.

He closed his eyes, after many minutes of thinking about the Sexta, into a nice light slumber.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Ichigo woke up early the next morning, rolling to his side lazily, blinking sleep from his eyes. The sunlight leaked through his open window, and the scent of early morning rain came in from outside.

It rained last night? He sat up slowly, rubbing his temple and sighing deeply. His night was dreamless, and restless the more he thought about it. He constantly would get up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. He didn't know why, only that his heart would be racing and his body would be sweating horridly.

He got out of bed, moving to his cell phone and snatching it up.

_**Have fun at college today! ~Ruki**_

Jesus Christ…he had school today.

The time on his phone read 6:45 a.m. His stomach dropped as he realized class started at 7:15, and the University was approximately 15 miles down the road. He rushed into the bathroom getting his teeth brushed and his day clothes on.

He never felt so rushed, as he grabbed his binder, filled with lined paper and information on his classes, and rushed out of the door. Running there was the best option, but he would be exhausted by the time he would get there.

As he made it down the sharp metal stairs and to the parking lot, he heard a familiar voice drift over to his hearing range. "Ey, Ichigo! Need a ride?"

He turned over to see Shinji just climbing into his car. The strawberry paused, his heart race reducing as he neared the Porsche. "What about Ikkaku?" Ichigo asked softly, looking around the parking lot to see if the bald man was coming up behind him.

Shinji smiled and shrugged, "He doesn't go to college. He works over down the road at Best Buy."

Ichigo cocked his head, "What now?"

The blonde man eyed him like he had blood coming out of his eyes, and shook his head, "Right, gotta remember you're new to America. Best Buy is a really sweet store. Maybe, after class we can go swing bye and say hello to Ikkaku?"

The strawberry's stomach dropped a tad, and he went pale, "Well…er…I don't know if that would be the best idea."

"Oh, nonsense, Ikkaku won't attack you during his work hours; he's too smart for that!" Shinji laughed, motioning for the younger man to get into the car. Ichigo climbed in, loving the interior of the car and happily feeling the leather seats under his fingers.

"Alright, off to school we go!" Shinji cheered, moving out of the parking lot and down the road to class.


	4. Class Starts

"Morning, class." Came a voice from the door leading into the hallway. Ichigo lifted his head from his desk, having resting his eyes for a couple minutes before class. He had run in a frenzy, with Shinji casually walking off down the hallway right next to the door. Apparently his class didn't start for another 15 minutes, but the strawberry's class had about started.

He had come in sweaty and exhausted, grabbing a seat in the front and near the door, away from anyone else who sat in the first row. A couple more minutes later, after resting his eyes, the teacher had walked in.

His professor had long black hair that reached down to his back. He wore a polo shirt with simple dark denim jeans and a gold wrist watch. His eyes were a deep set of black, which caught the light of the classroom lamps and glistened.

He was a very attractive man, Ichigo could tell, but who knew how he would act when class finally began. The teacher set his bag to the desk, turning to the board and writing rushed messy handwriting along the long board which extended from corner to corner.

"I hope you all are fast note-takers, because I do not plan to pause for you to get everything down." He stated matter-of-factly, turning back to the class. Ichigo rushed to grab some lined paper, grabbing a fine-tipped ink pen and tensing his muscles.

He just had a horrible idea that this class was going to be hard and wouldn't get any easier during the years. The man turned back to the board and seemed to bellow, "All of you obviously know that Art reached its peak during the Renaissance Age. Many famous artists from the 14th through 17th century are still highlighted even to this very day in the real world.

"The Age of Art, as I like to call it, started in Florence, Tuscany." He said rather loudly, turned again back to the class. Ichigo's hand flew across the page, tensing at every word the professor stated, hoping to get everything down.

"I will have a pop quiz over these notes sometime next week, so I **hope **you all are paying attention and taking notes." He stated, grabbing a water bottle from his bag and taking a sip. "Anyway, there has been much debate over the usefulness of the Renaissance Age as a term and historical definition. Some question if it was a cultural height from the middle Ages, as others seeing it as pessimism for the 'classical age'."

Ichigo felt heat waves flash down his forehead as he tried to remember what was just said. He needed a laptop, very badly, because he could type faster than writing and this was seriously bugging his wrist writing so tensely.

Ichigo stopped writing for a second as the teacher took another long drink of his bottled water. The man cast a glance at Ichigo for a moment as the strawberry waved a hand in front of his face to cool himself down.

"There a problem...?" the teacher asked blandly.

Ichigo looked up from his notes, "Ichigo."

"Right, right, do you have a question or not?" He asked rather harshly.

Ichigo felt all eyes on him, and felt his body get even hotter, "Oh... no I don't." He shyly replied, sinking in his seat. The man closest to him smirked. The professor rolled his eyes, "Then pay attention and stop making a show."

"Sorry Mr..." Ichigo paused, looking up at the teacher. The professor rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Mr. Kuchiki."

"Right, Sorry." He mumbled, sinking in his chair even more. This day was going **splendid**.

_**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**_

"I take it class wasn't great?" Shinji chuckled, meeting the exhausted and red-faced Ichigo outside by his car. The strawberry practically collapsed in the driver's seat, laying his head back. "Those damn mover-guys better be at my house when I get back." He mumbled. Shinji let out another laugh and hopped into the driver's seat.

"Remember I was gonna go and visit Ikkaku at Best Buy?" He stated, pulling out of the parking lot.

The strawberry's head propped up off of the head rest and stared at Shinji like he was insane, "_Are you crazy? He hates me!_" Shinji shrugged his shoulders and turned to the road, "What? He's my boyfriend and you are getting rides from me, might as well let me drive where I want to go."

Ichigo's stomach churned as they drove down the road to the Promenade. He didn't want to be in the car now, and half of him wished he just walked the 15 miles home.

They pulled up into the Best Buy parking lot 5 minutes later. Shinji climbed out, moving over to where Ichigo was practically laying on the seat. "Just come inside and walk around, you don't have to **follow **me."

The strawberry rolled his eyes, getting out of the Porsche and following the older man inside.

This electronic store smelt of plastic and...some kind of bleach base. It was large, and aisles upon aisles of movies, games, software, computer games, etc lined the walkways.

He paced the aisles looking at each section he could possibly see as Shinji trotted off lovingly to Ikkaku who worked at the **Geek Squad** counter.

Ichigo laughed to himself, "He's a geek..." He mumbled, turning another corner to the section where all of the games were. He smiled at the Playstation games, he enjoyed that system. He's practically played every game he's spotted, with the exception of the new released game that came out recently.

He picked up a case, eyeing the label. He remembered all of the _Final Fantasy _games. He remembered how obsessed he was when he played these.

"Need any help?" Cooed a voice behind him, and the strawberry pivoted on his heels to see who the man was so close behind him. His heart caught in his throat when he realized the man behind him was Grimmjow, dressed in a v-neck black shirt with ripped jeans and converse.

He cocked an eyebrow, eyeing the shorter and younger man, "You look like you've seen a ghost." He stated, smiling after his statement.

Ichigo fought hard to find a word to say...anything to this man, and was relieved when he said, "I didn't...um e-expect to see you here!" He stammered, rubbing his flushed cheek.

Grimmjow's eyes sparkled for a second and he laughed, "I'm always here! Whenever I get payed, I use the money I haven't spent on rent er some shit on Xbox games!"

"Xbox?" Ichigo questioned, raising his eyebrows. Grimmjow's eyes widened in shock and his mouth gaped open. The strawberry felt foolish, as if he was insane not to know what an _Xbox _is.

"About the best fucking game system known to man!" He exclaimed, going over to the Xbox games and grabbing one labeled _**Left4Dead2**_.

He pointed to the cover, "Had my eye on this one fer a long time, now I finally get tuh try it out!" He said, walking over to where the check-out counters were.

Ichigo shyly followed close behind, keeping the conversation up as they walked, "Never heard of it. What's it about?"

"Zombies." He replied quickly, tossing the money on the counter and handing the cashier his Best Buy card.

"You should come over and play it sometime." Grimmjow stated, getting a bag for his item and walking over to the door. Ichigo's cheeks flushed red at the thought and he nodded shyly, "Um…uh s-sure! Any time available?"

The blue-haired Sexta bit his lip as he thought for a moment, which Ichigo transfixed his gaze on, and replied, "I'm free Saturday, and I'll pick you up then around noon."

"Uh, do you know where I live?" Ichigo asked as he made his way to the sliding doors. Grimmjow paused at the door, "You live near Shinji, right? Well, I'll be out there at about noon, and if you aren't out at that time, I'm leaving with or without you."

Ichigo nodded, and replied, "Then it's a date!" He suddenly bit his tongue extremely hard as the doors closed. He covered his mouth, and stood there seeing Grimmjow walk to the parked cars. Did he just pause midway through the door?

He hoped not. After a moment of pausing at the door...the strawberry slowly made his way back to the games, then viewing all of the Xbox games.


End file.
